Friday, June 29, 2012

The challenge at The Stamp Man this fortnight is to Bling it on. We wanna see some sparkle! As always there's a fab Stamp Man voucher up for grabs.

I used a masking fluid and Distress Ink technique I saw in Craft Stamper- and loved digging out that fab butterfly from the Stamp Man's Butterfly Beauties stamp plate. Of course I added lots of bling with some gorgeous little black gems- shame the photo hasn't done them justice! The torn handmade paper and other bits have been hanging around in my stash for an eternity. Good when the colours kinda come together on their own!!!

Oooooh, here's my bit of good news for the month! The lovely Nikky Hall from Polkadoodles has invited me to join her new Design Team for her spanking new Studio 12 range. Lucky me eh? Now I know what some of you will be thinking- that's a digital range- and yes, tis true, I'm working with the Picknix CD, but Nikky has designed it to fit in with the arty, inky, messy crafting stuff I know and love. Hybrid crafting. So.......worth a try, eh?

First project- an art journal page.

I used one of the gorgeous ferns from the Garden kit in the Picknix collection, and enlarged it to fill the length of an A4 white card sheet.

I sprayed the whole fern with lime green and yellow inks- you don't have to be at all perfect about it, any extra splodges outside the lines will be covered up. When it was dry, I painted masking fluid onto the leaves and stem- the masking fluid dries as a rubbery coating and protects what's underneath it.

I then sprayed orange, red and black inks over the top, covering everything, including the masked off leaves. It needed a bit more texture, so I added some torn pages from an old telephone directory and white tissue paper, and sponged through some sequin waste with ink from red, black and white inkpads.

Now it's time for the magic! Using clean fingers, I gently rubbed the masking fluid, it peeled off to reveal the green leaves underneath. The final touch was the doodling and journalling- the quote is from a film from my teenage years- anyone else remember Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

My idea was to bring some digital elements into my everyday messy crafting. That's what hybrid crafting's all about for me!!!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Phew! How busy have I been? I started my new job a fortnight ago and its been a bit frantic. I am now a Learning and Skills Development Manager, and I think I'm enjoying it, although it may be a bit early to tell!!!!

Anyway crafting has had to go on the back burner a little bit, although I have agreed to be on a new Design Team, but I'll tell you about that a bit later....... However, I've been getting myself organised again so this weekend I'm back to creating. Yay!

So, to share with you today, I have a Stampotique card- using a gorgeous Jo Capper-Sandon stamp.

The coloured swipes are the new Summer Distress Ink colours. Gorgeous, aren't they? They only cost me pennies too, thanks to a Craft Barn voucher win at Try it on Tuesday. I think Pickled Raspberry is my favourite, although it might be just the name.......

Friday, June 15, 2012

I couldn't stop thinking about Dr Who with this challenge- time travel and all that! However, my project has nothing of the Dr about it- except that he's probably visited Paris a few times in his travels.

I used a gorgeous Stampendous Frantage stamp available from the Stamp Man here. Gently watercoloured it with Wild Honey and Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks. The gold card is punched with a Woodware ribbon slot punch, I quite liked that the sheer ribbon I chose let the gold slats show through.

The stitches round the edge are by Doodlebug and are BY FAR the best rub ons I've ever used. They were so easy to rub on and stuck really firmly, I'd recommend them. I quite like a rub on from time to time!

So the challenge details are a the Stamp Man challenge blog, and the theme is time or travel, so quite broad- there's a fab voucher up for grabs, so well worth an entry!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Made for a teenager, so black and white and Alice seemed to fit! The Octopode Factory Friday challenge is Girls just wanna have fun. Alice's eyes are 3d glazed for extra stare. The white background section is covered in white mesh.

I start a new job tomorrow, so I'm trying to keep myself busy, keep the old nerves at bay!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Yeah I have no idea why a lighthouse for Dad, but there you have it. Here's this year's Father's Day card for my lovely Dad. Made early, written and awaiting delivery on the day. Organised or what???!!

The Michael Powell image is promarkered in a really limited colour palette, then decoupaged up a little bit- the coloured houses and lighthouse are up a level, then the house at the very front is up another level.

Monday, June 4, 2012

So I've been guilty of the push it back and pile it up style of desk tidying- as anyone who has seen my WOYWW blog posts will know. So I've got a few days off work, so I've tidied up! Here's my lovely clean desk now....

Unfortunately this was achieved by depositing this big pile of crud on the dining table directly behind my desk.

However, that was on Thursday, so I have been gradually working my way through the teetering pile before it fell over and trapped a child or cat, and it's pretty much all sorted now. It's amazing what I've found that I'd totally forgotten about. Loads of half started cards and coloured images, and sheets of inked backgrounds I can't for the life of me remember doing......

Ah well, memory loss aside, it has meant I've been able to make a couple of really quick cutie cards for some birthdays coming up this month. Here's one.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

I did quite like the photo choosing bit though. This one makes me happy, it's Miss Little Legs at her Tae Kwon Do grading last October. She was an absolute star in a big sports hall with lots of people watching her. Then afterwards when I'm still choked up and watery eyed and fit to pop with proud mommy-itis, she gives me this smile that says I know what I've just accomplished and that I'm a star, and I'm cute too.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

I've always been an Octopode Factory fan, but lately I'm even more drawn toward these quirky little pretties. The current Octopode Factory Friday challenge is black and white, so out came my doodling pens and my little Octopode toadstools and I made this.

Each of my books has its own bookmarks, so I make quite a few! This one has stamped toadstools at the bottom and a doodled sun and border.

I've added a bit of shine with some dots of glossy accents.

Ooh, that one sun ray looks like a tentacle.

You don't have to use Octopode images to enter the challenge, but they keep calling to me! Off to put it in my new book.

Friday, June 1, 2012

The Stamp Man challenge this fortnight is to make something for a man. Should tie in nicely with those Father's Day cards!!! Having said that, I've made a 50th birthday card- the brief was to include a guitar.

I used the Stamp Man classical instruments stamp plate, love the swirly bits on the guitar. The image is watercoloured with Tea Dye Distress ink and I've used some gold foiling to give it shine. The paper is 7 Gypsies and the Event tag stamp is a new to me Unity ippity stamp. Lots of gold card and matting and eyelets on this one.

Right, there's a Stamp Man voucher up for grabs, so get making and get blogging and we'd love to see what you come up with!